Home Studio

[Lornick]

I'm about to setup a home studio,can anyone guide me with regards lighting,what power is best,and how many are needed,Simon are using 2 X 400 watt heads on a black bg that's it! It's what they use in there shop,anyway if you have a small studio,then how about sending me in the right direction.Many thanks Nick

 

[mike weeks]

I'm about to setup a home studio,can anyone guide me with regards lighting,what power is best,and how many are needed,Simon are using 2 X 400 watt heads on a black bg that's it! It's what they use in there shop,anyway if you have a small studio,then how about sending me in the right direction.Many thanks Nick

It really depends what you are shooting, 400W should be fine but really 250W will work in a small studio, as to number of heads it depends on what you want to do - you can do a hell of a lot with just one and some reflectors

Mike

 

[..MD..]

What kind of images do you want to recreate ? This will help people to give you the right advice

 

[Phil V]

As above, you don't need loads of power for a home studio, we could give better advice with more info.

 

[boyfalldown]

Need some more info to really help. I have available 3x400 watt in mine, but rarely use more ten two and one most of the time. 250 watt would be fine too. 400 is a little too much sometimes

 

[quango2k]

depends on size of the studio..400w from 6ft away is a little much.

 

[Garry Edwards]

For the average home studio, you will be fine as long as each flash head has no more than 200Ws - note that flash is not expressed in watts, which a term used to measure the amount of power actually used, it is watt seconds, which is entirely different.
Modern flash heads have 5 stops of adjustment, which means that the power can be reduced to 1/32nd of power. Some of the very oldest, or the very cheapest ones sold on places like Ebay, have less adjustment and with less adjustment, 200Ws can be too much.
For normal portrait use, I recommend a two head kit with 1 softbox and 1 umbrella, as this is the most versatile arrangement. This kit is ideal, other products are of course available from other suppliers.